Looks like the show is going to have a good showing in terms of inboards. Malibu, axis, supra, Moomba, centurion, nautique, mc that I have heard so far. There will be a g25 on display as well. I can't wait to see how big that thing is in person

The show was pretty decent for Chicago. I am always going to to on Wednesday night from now on. I parked two cars away from the door to go in. It was so empty that when I was walking across the bridge from the parking garage, I was half expecting to get to the gate and realize that there was no show. I think this show had more inboard models than any other we've had. I got to sit in and see just about everthing out there. You'd think that with it being 90% salesmen inside they'd be itching to talk to me, but alas, they were not. I met up with MattieK (I think thats his handle here), and he said about the same thing. I think I spent a total of 30 minutes in each of Mastercraft's, Centurion, Malibu, Supra, and Nautique's booth (Most of the time as the only customer) and nobody came over to even say hi. Myself and MattieK talked to the guy at Tige for awhile, and I spent some time at MB talking to the salesman. Its alright though, it gave me plently of time to look at all the nooks and cranny's of all the boats. I didn't take any pictures, but I am going back on Saturday morning with the wife and kids and I will take a few then.

It was a good show, but none of the sales people seemed motivated to even say hello. I guess these boats sell themselves? It happened to me, then happened to PLR, so apparently not uncommon. A few thoughts:

I love the G23. Very well thought out, very rider friendly. Man does it look like a whale though.

Nice to finally see an MB in person, I see why people are excited about the brand. They might be a bit simple, but the quality for the money in impressive.

Wake boats accounted for close to 25% of the boats there, that's huge compared to previous years. Nine brands, all with multiple boats.

The thing I still don't get; 96k show price for an X10? Who justifies buying these things???

What model MB did they have? From how everyone on here raves about them on this site I'd love to see one in person.

I agree the G boats make everything else look like tiny! The one I looked at was parked beside a Supra 21v which made it look like like a kiddie toy!

Yea, I take a lot of peoples opinions from this site with a grain of salt, but the MBs really are decent boats. They had a 21 Tomcat, 21 or 23 B52 (forget which it was) and the new F24. Smallest wake display, but honestly the most impressive. (When weighing in cost, fit and finish, and of course the attitude issues at most of the other displays)

Yea, I take a lot of peoples opinions from this site with a grain of salt, but the MBs really are decent boats. They had a 21 Tomcat, 21 or 23 B52 (forget which it was) and the new F24. Smallest wake display, but honestly the most impressive. (When weighing in cost, fit and finish, and of course the attitude issues at most of the other displays)

totally agree, small display but the dealership that just took them over used to sell malibu, they are great people to deal with. i talked with them for a while, since my parents bought a malibu from them a while back. nice looking boats, kind of behind in the dash department, IMO

totally agree, small display but the dealership that just took them over used to sell malibu, they are great people to deal with. i talked with them for a while, since my parents bought a malibu from them a while back. nice looking boats, kind of behind in the dash department, IMO

I was checking out the MB's for awhile. Here is my biggest gripe about them. I coudn't get comfortable behind the wheel of it. I'm about 6'1" and my knees couldn't get under the dash in the tomkat or wb. The 24 worked fine for some reason. Other than a few tiny details around some of the interior gel, they definately seem like the best bang for the buck. There can't be too many 21 foot boats for less money, and they seem well built. When I go to the show on Saturday I will post pics about what I am talking about.

Just got home. All around it was an awesome show this year for wakeboards with so many different company's there. Was my first time seeing MB, G23, g25, supra sa, different mxzs, and new star in person and all I can say is wow. I could not afford any of them but if I could it would be a hard choice and would most likely come down to riding behind them. Was really impressed with the MB's other than not a big fan of the dash. Loved the colors of the xstar they had and it looks a lot nicer in person than i thought it did in pictures. They had a really nice x10 and x30 but was turned off by the lowest price being I believe 96k and new star at 140k. G23 and G25 are just huge boats but really liked how they were setup. New supra sa is a really sharp looking boat that I really liked a lot along with a white with silver metal flake 21v I wish I could have taken home since its was a little bit nicer than my 05 haha. The new mxz line of malibus were my favorite malibus and the tige z3wqs a very sharp boat as well. All in all other than seeing crazy prices on these new boats I would take any of them and like every year now I want to get back o riding ASAP. I didn't take any pics but if anyone has any questions about any of the boats I can try to answer them

I'm sorry that some of you felt that you weren't given a proper amount of attention on Wednesday. I know that there was a very tight move in schedule due to the amount of rigging, etc that takes place. I'm just wondering if most booths were still dealing with set up glitches the first day of the show. I didn't come into town until Thursday, and there were still alot of software and IT related issues that some were working through. However, it's still important for booth staff to greet attendees. Our booth was well staffed, but I know we still couldn't get to everyone during peak hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Either way, from the other side of the aisle, this show is starting to feel alot more like the good days of 2003-2008. Consumers made smart purchasing decisions, the show looked incredible and the place was packed.

When I was there, most of the salesmen were sitting around a table bs'ing. I really didn't care though, it gave me more uninterrupted time to dig around. I did stop by Nautique and ask what they were looking for on a Sport Nautique (just for kicks / 76g's). I asked him why it was so much money. You'd think they would see this question as an opportunity. "Hey, I know its a lot of money, but why don't you come over here and let me show you why and go through it with you," instead, he just shrugged his shoulders and kinda half waked away.

Do Tige and MB owners get discounts for defending their brands; regardless of how small the knock is?

I gave a favorable review, 21v agreed. Let it go...

I am an MB owner and I totally agree with you on the dash. It could be a litle better, but coming from an Axis it's a nice upgrade. Glad you like the boat. You really should ride behind one if you get the chance, they are really solid in the water.

Sorry if anybody felt like they didn't get the attention they deserved at the show! Wednesday we were definitely still trying to get the booth up and running. Overall we had a great show and feel like 2013 is going to be a great season. If anybody still needs anything on the Malibu side of things feel free to hit me up. We are having an open house this weekend and were able to get the boat show incentives extended through this weekend.

Mike (Luke22885) is dead on. The MB dealer is the Edge out of Michigan. Really really good guys. I was very impressed with what I saw out of MB. And it was definitely cool to talk to Mike Brendella himself.

Jim, keep up with those pizza's man. I have a Malibu waiting for you. haha